(July 15 2016) “A brewer on the run from a murderous sheriff, from Ecuador up to the most remote Highlands. Sir Rocco Forte, one of the most famous hotelier in the world. The love story of a prisoner of war in Orkney, who has secretly left the biggest proof of his love in the chapel that he helped build on the islands during his imprisonment. The community with the largest concentration of Italians in the UK, and who still lives as if it were in Campania and Puglia. One of the most important engineers of the new Mars Rover project, dressed like a dandy of the nineteenth century. These, and many others, are the stories of Italians and the UK “. When one talks about “Italians and the UK – A Love Story”, one talks about a multimedia project (a book plus a web documentary) on the Italian presence in Britain since the early twentieth century to the present day, by Lorenzo Colantoni and Riccardo Venturi, with support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and in partnership with National Geographic Italy. It has been presented yesterday in Rome at the presence of Cristina Ravaglia, General Director for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Sandro Gozi, State Undersecretary with responsibility for European Affairs. “This project was born from a present need and an inspiration from the past – says Colantoni – the present requirement is linked to the fact that today (at least until Brexit) more and more Italians are moving abroad, mainly to the UK (from 2012 to 2013 arrivals increased by 71%) “. Inspiration is linked, however, to the desire to narrate an Italian community which is not only London-based: “With Riccardo Venturi we decided to expand our search, not confining ourselves to England (where most of the Italians concentrate) but on traveling from north to south. And to tell the past and the present – says the young author -. We also wanted to ‘explore’ the Italian community in Scotland: we discovered fantastic but little known stories. We also found love stories “. A few days after the victory of the Euroskeptics in the referendum on Brexit, the two authors wrote a book (published by Peliti Associates) and a filmed a web documentary (produced by Excommunicate study released by National Geographic Italy) that speaks to “industry experts and specialists of matter but not just that: also those who simply want to know the history of the many Italian immigrants in the UK will find it interesting “:” the ‘Italians and the UK’ project describes the Italian presence overseas and the contribution that our compatriots have given to this country from the 900 to date “says Colantoni. “It’s a 50% picture 50% texts’ project. The idea is to do a macro story of the phenomenon to get to the individual stories, the main characters that built this phenomenon”. “Italians and the UK” is the result of a year’s worth of work, analysis, study: “Behind this project there is much hard work but also a lot of passion – the author admits – Today we have to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their support in this project, they believed in it from the beginning “. Dozens of stories about creativity and work, a journey through time (from the first mass migration to present day) and space (the northern tip of the Orkneys to the Isle of Wight on the English Channel). “It ‘s an interesting initiative and we hope it will have a sequel – says Cristina Ravaglia, General Director for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs -. We hope that after ‘Italians and the UK’ other projects will be produced to talk about Italians in Germany, France and Belgium. Behind the numbers there are stories; this should never be forgotten. Stories about talent, skills, inventiveness. Yesterday’s stories that still move us today. “Italians and the UK” uses innovative tools and languages to describe the phenomenon of new emigration without forgetting the past one. In addition it does it in a very ‘real’ fashion, often telling difficult lives. Lives that become a bridge between Italy and United Kingdom. Abroad, there is a great Italy that must never be forgotten. The stories of Italians abroad are stories of courage, of challenges, of invention, creativity: therefore they should be told and known. ” (PO / Gil)
